11:59 blues
by dino-sama
Summary: February 14, as the whole world already knows, not only happens to be Valentine's Day but also his birthday. Everybody has already greeted him,so why in the seven seas has he not heard from Rukawa? SenRu.One desperate -shot.XD


Disclaimer : I am nothing but a poor student. Slam Dunk et al. belongs to Takehiko Inoue.

Notes : This is a my feeble attempt of writing a fic on Sendoh's birthday though technically, it's not fourteen anymore. Wrote this under three hours so don't expect anything grand. XD

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February 14 was drawing to a close and a certain spikey-haired ace was frowning. It's not like him to frown really, but a certain someone just pissed him off. February 14, as the whole world already knows, not only happens to be Valentine's Day but also his birthday. Everybody has already greeted him, from his friends to his fans alike but he still hasn't heard from a certain Ice Prince of the Shohoku basketball club. It seemed that that certain Ice Prince has forgotten about him and this special occasion despite all the hints that he was sending off to him yesterday during their one-on-one basketball session. Of all days that his birthday could have fallen on, it had to be on the day that they had no one-on-one. It was frustrating really. But what frustrated him more was the fact that the Ice Prince had not greeted him. Well, they are friends right (okay fine, so he wanted to be more than friends but that's not the point here) and friends greet their friends on their friends' birthday (friends what friends on a friends' what?), right? So why in the seven seas has he not heard from Rukawa? He has been awake since 12 am because an admirer of his had oh-so lovingly called him up at that precise moment and greeted him, saying that the first greeting is special. He was touched, really, despite the fact that the girl had ruined his sleep and his beautiful dream about a certain raven haired, cold someone. He wanted to go back to sleep after the phone call from the girl but message after messages and calls after calls started pouring in and he wasn't able to sleep anymore. At first he enthusiastically replied to each one with a personal message but after an hour or so, he got tired and typing a personal message became burdensome so he just typed a default message of thanks and sent it to all the persons who greeted him all throughout the day. He jumped whenever his phone rang, hoping that it would be Rukawa on the other end, only to be disappointed by a shrilly voice of some admirer of his greeting him a happy birthday.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember the names of the people who greeted him and by noon, he was just breezing to every letter and mails that he received, hoping every now and then for a message from Rukawa. Practice came and went and still not even a simple 'hey' came from Rukawa. Hell, he was so desperate to hear from the stoic boy that even a 'do ahou' would send him to perpetual bliss. But night time came and still no word from Rukawa. Frustrated, tired and depressed, he slumped onto his bed, frowned at the ceiling for quite some minute, still fervently hoping for a mail or call from Rukawa but still none came. After a few minutes, his closed his weary eyes and tried to fight back the tears that threatened to fall down his eyes. Damn it, he was not going to cry, he was not going to cry! But damn, it hurts! Was it really too much on his part to expect a greeting from Rukawa? Was he only being delusional in thinking that he and Rukawa shared a special bond? Was he reading too much from Rukawa's actions? Is he the only one who treats their time together special? Does this mean that Rukawa never really thought of hime as a special someone? Heck, does Rukawa even treat him as a friend?

After minutes of thinking and crying, his phone rang. He knew who the caller on the other side was. It was Rukawa. He knew because he had set a special ringtone for Rukawa's number. He let the phone rang for quite some time, thinking whether or not he'd answer the call or just ignore it. After a minute hesitation, he resigned to the fact that he really liked Rukawa and was willing to accept whatever Rukawa thought of him. Tiredly, he answered the phone.

'Hello?'

'Hey' , came the calm reply from the other line. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes again. He couldn't believe how just simply hearing the other's voice seemed to calm his nerves and made him forget everything that he was thinking. He was confused. He was happy to hear Rukawa's voice but he was at the same time mad at him. He was taken out of his thoughts when Rukawa spoke.

'Are you still there?'

'Yeah' was his weak reply. He didn't want to talk anymore. He just wanted it to over. He badly wanted to rest his weary eyes. He just wanted to forget. So he asked,

'Why are you calling?'

'I wanted to greet you.' was Rukawa's firm reply. Sendoh didn't know whether he'd be pissed or happy but his anger got the better of him.

'Really now? So who's the kind soul who reminded you of the occasion?' he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He really didn't want to be mean to Rukawa but his emotions were taking a toll on him.

'Nobody. I didn't forget.'

'Oh really?' Sendoh said as he stared out his window and into the pitch black surroundings outside. 'Well, too bad for you, my birthday has just passed.'

'No it's not and I didn't really forget that_ it's_ your birthday. Look at the clock and check what time it is.'

Sendoh was pissed. Who did Rukawa thought he was, some dumb kid whom he can appease just by saying that he didn't forget, he thought as he looked at his clock to prove to Rukawa that it was indeed February 15 already and not –

His breath hitched when his saw the time registered at his digital clock. It was precisely 11:59 pm.

'You thought I forgot didn't you? Well, you shouldn't really think too much. It's bad for you.' Rukawa said on the other line.

'I...'

'Shush. Give this minute to me because I am not going to say these things often and I'm not going to talk this long again either, so just shut up. Before the clock strikes twelve, let me say this: Happy Birthday Akira.' The words were spoken softly as if meant to caress Sendoh. Tears were threatening to fall and this time, he just let them cascade down his cheeks.

'I purposedly didn't greet you throughout the day because I wanted my greeting to be a special one. Had I wanted, I could've woken up and greeted you at twelve am awhile ago but I'm not some inconsiderate moron who'll wake you up and disturb you from your dreams at an ungodly hour.' After hearing those words, Sendoh chuckled a bit.

'I also didn't greet you throughout the day cause had I done that, you would've just breezed through my message and brushed it off along with all the mails that kept flooding your phone.' Well he did have a point, Sendoh thought.

'Like I said, I wanted my message to be special. Wait scratch that, I wanted to be special to you, at least, even if I'm just that guy who greeted you last. '

Wait, did Sendoh catch that right? Rukawa wanted to be special to him?

'And I...I actually like you.' And with that Rukawa ended his call.

Sendoh's mind was swirling. Did he get that right? Did Rukawa say he wanted to be special to him? Did he just say he liked him???

Immediately, Sendoh pressed 1 on his phone and pushed the call button. He's not going to let Rukawa do a confess-and-run.

After what seemed to be an eternity (which in reality is just three rings) Rukawa answered the phone.

'Why'd you hung up?' Sendoh asked. He was grinning like a mad man right now and his heart was thumping on his chest.

'I didn't have anything to say anymore.' Rukawa said on the other line.

'Well, I do. And listen well, even though I'll probably repeat these words many times from now' Sendoh said as he cleared his thoughts.

'I certainly appreciated your greeting. Thank you.'

'Hn' was Rukawa's weak response.

'And well, I also wanted to say that you're an idiot. You didn't really have to make up any scheme in your head you know. No matter what time you greet me, your greeting would always be special to me. Anything you give to me is special for me. Even this little phone call is special to me.'

'We're getting cheesier by the minute you know.' Rukawa stated a matter-of-factly on the other line though amusement was clear in his voice, something Sendoh immediately caught.

'Well, since we're already chessy, I'll take this chance to make it a little cheesier.'

Rukawa merely snorted on the other line.

'And of course, you just had to snort at this very perfect time.'

'Do aho. Just say what you want to say.'

'Impatient are we? Well I'm not going to prolong this any longer'

Sendoh gulped. Though he sounded cocky and confident just then, the truth was that he was pretty nervous. His heart was now racing in his chest, thumping so fast as if threatening to get pass his ribcage. So with the phone on his right hand and his heart on the other, he confessed to Kaede Rukawa

'I love you.'

At the moment the words have flown out of his mouth, Sendoh shut is eyes. His heart was still racing and his palms were sweaty. Heck, even his armpits were sweaty despite the cold air coming out of his AC.

The seconds ticked by in an agonizingly slow way for Sendoh. This was the part where Rukawa is supposed to either 'I love you too' or 'I'm sorry' (but of course, it's Rukawa Kaede the Ice Prince of Kanagawa we're talking about here so expecting a normal response from him is like expecting a pig to fly ). Instead, what broke the silence was a snort and crisp sounding 'do aho' from the other line.

Sendoh thought that it was over. Maybe he really was reading a bit too much from Rukawa's actions. Maybe he really was delusional. Maybe he really was –

'You're over thinking again aren't you?'

'I, well I...'

'I told you to stop over thinking didn't I? Idiots are not supposed to over exert their brain, do'aho.'

And there it was again, that hint of playfulness and amusement in Rukawa's tone. And by now, Sendoh's is as confused as ever.

'Huh?'

'Well do aho listen well...I love you too.'

And at that precise moment, a smile crept up Sendoh's lip. He was really happy. He got everything he wanted for his birthday and he couldn't have wished for anything better. Kaede Rukawa is now officially his boyfriend. What more can one can ask for?

'Awww, Kae-chan!!!'

'Do' aho. Call me in that name one more time and I'll castrate you.'

XD

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Owari.

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Okay, so there goes my feeble attempt of writing something for Sendoh's birthday, although technically it is 15 already. But hey, it's better late than later, I mean never XD. So yeah. Besides, the idea just came to me through a friend. Some of the lines there are his actual words XD, so yeah, thank him for the inspiration. :D His greeting was the only greeting I appreacited. :)

11:59. LOL

Anyway, belated Happy Valentine's and Happy Birthday to Sendoh! :D

(Yeah I know it was stupid.)

Review (or berate) if you want XD.


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